Community-based learning melds theory and practice through experiential opportunities that support the in-classroom curriculum.
2024-25 Courses
Global Connections: An Anthropology of Kinship (ANTH 3148)
Faculty member: Mary A. Porter, Seminar—Fall | 5 credits
In her study of transnational adoptees, Eleana Kim noted differences in the ways Americans talk about the immigration of Chinese brides to the United States on the one hand and those describing the arrival of adopted Chinese baby girls on the other: the former with suspicion and the latter with joy. We tend to assume that family-building involves deeply personal, intimate, and even “natural” acts; but, in actual practice, the pragmatics of forming (and disbanding) families are much more complex. There are many instances where biological pregnancy is not possible or not chosen, and there are biological parents who are unable to rear their offspring. Social rules govern the acceptance or rejection of children in particular social groups, depending on factors such as the marital status of their parents or the enactment of appropriate rituals. Western notions of marriage prioritize compatibility between two individuals who choose each other based on love; but, in many parts of the world, selecting a suitable spouse and contracting a marriage is the business of entire kin networks. There is great variability, too, in what constitutes “suitable.” To marry a close relative or someone of the same gender may be deemed unnaturally close in some societies; but marriage across great difference—such as age, race, nation, culture, or class—can also be problematic. And beyond the intimacies of couples and the interests of extended kin are the interests of the nation-state. This class, then, examines the makings and meanings of kinship connections at multiple levels, from small communities to global movements. Our examples will include materials on Korea, China, India, Italy, Ghana, the US, and the UK.
Environmental Justice and Yonkers: The Political Economy of People, Power, Place, and Pollution (ECON 3802)
Faculty member: An Li, Seminar—Spring | 5 credits
Environmental injustice is both an outcome and a process. As an outcome, environmental injustice is the unequal distribution of environmental burdens (or benefits) in a society. As a process, environmental injustice is the history and institutions that project political, economic, and social inequalities into the environmental sphere. In this course, we will discuss the broad environmental justice literature and connect it with our immediate community: Yonkers, NY. We will first measure the disproportionate environmental burdens in the city’s low-income and minority neighborhoods. Then, we will utilize economics to examine the causal mechanisms of environmental injustice. We will focus on the evolution of the housing market, the changing demographics of Yonkers, the location choice of major pollution sources, political representation and power, exclusionary and expulsive zoning policies, etc. We will draw knowledge from multiple fields—economics, politics, sociology, geography, etc. We will examine the issue using multiple methodologies and assess different policy options for improving environmental and climate justice in Yonkers. We will also examine the policy implications of each environmental injustice issue. For each topic/issue, we will have in-depth discussions based on the readings, followed by in-class collaborative research activities that produce qualitative and quantitative evidence of environmental injustice in Yonkers. To visualize environmental injustice, we will use a geographic information system (GIS) to make maps. You will then be asked to write about the issue in an assignment and discuss potential policy recommendations.
Local Oral History: From Latin America to Yonkers (HIST 3039)
Faculty member: Margarita Fajardo, Seminar—Fall | 5 credits
This community-partnership course will bring students closer to Latin American oral history writing in order to write their own community-based narratives. Since the advent of military and repressive regimes in late 20th-century Latin America, social scientists and historians have turned to oral histories. By interviewing eyewitnesses to reconstruct the past and act upon the present, oral histories originally served to document the stories of both oppressors and oppressed but, since then, have expanded in scope and purpose. Building on existing rich oral traditions in the region, this course will first explore the methodologies of Latin American colonial chroniclers, popular educators, activists, and professional historians to understand the historical origins and context of production of different oral histories, as well as their academic and political use. Then, focusing on the history of late 20th-century Chile and its transition from socialism to neoliberalism, students will read, view, or listen to different oral history-based narratives, including life histories, documentaries, biographies, and truth and reconciliation commissions, among others. By doing so, the course will help students both get a glimpse of Latin American history and assess and develop skills to craft their own narratives based on the observation of, and participation in, the Yonkers community. The third and final part of the course will be devoted to workshop the narratives produced by students. Throughout the semester, students will have the opportunity to work with a particular community organization in Yonkers. Students are expected to develop a conference project based on their work with the community, using the oral-history questions, tools, and problems learned and discussed in the seminar. The conference project may take any format, including essays, podcasts, short videos, timelines, and interactive maps.
The Power of Place: Museums, Monuments, and Public History in Yonkers (HIST 3721)
Faculty member: Mary Dillard, Small seminar—Spring | 5 credits
This course introduces students to the fascinating history of Yonkers through the fields of public history and museum studies. The fact that Yonkers is situated in close proximity to New York City provides unique opportunities for Yonkers residents. At the same time, this sometimes means that the treasures of Yonkers are obscured by its better-known neighbor. In this class, students will develop a deeper understanding of the history, culture, and people of Yonkers by focusing on the meaning of place. We will begin the class by closely collaborating with staff at the Hudson River Museum, a major arts and cultural institution in Yonkers that is recognized nationwide. Students will study how the museum developed and the place that the museum occupies in the city’s cultural landscape. In addition to touring historic sites like Philipse Manor Hall, Sherwood House, and Untermeyer Gardens, students will study the history of places that are important to Yonkers residents, including the Dunwoodie Golf Course, the Old Croton Aqueduct, Greystone Bakery, and McClean Avenue. We will tour and analyze the city’s burgeoning public art scene in addition to learning more about some of Yonkers’ unique neighborhoods. Our ultimate goal will be to use multimedia approaches to create a “Museum in the Streets,” highlighting the people and places that make Yonkers a unique and dynamic city.
Queering the Library: Yonkers Public Library Practicum LGST 4010
Faculty member: Benjamin Zender, Small seminar—Spring | 5 credits
In this practicum-style class—meeting weekly at the Yonkers Public Library (YPL) Riverfront Branch—we will pursue projects that will directly support efforts at the library to build and publicize an LGBTQ+ archival collection. Class readings will discuss the risks, challenges, and rewards of building queer history through archival collections, especially in the context of a public institution like YPL. For conference work, students will participate in one of three group projects at YPL. The Oral History Project group will run public dialogue circles on LGBTQ+ issues in Yonkers and conduct oral histories to be housed in YPL’s public digital archives. The archives acquisition project will build physical and digital collections at the library and develop archival finding aids to assist patrons with archival research. The exhibition group will develop a small exhibition at YPL, sharing Yonkers and Westchester-area history and showcasing existing materials in YPL’s archival collection, including materials developed by the first two project groups. Students will ideally have have some level of experience with queer studies as an academic discipline, archival research, or applied work at nonprofits or other archives, libraries, and/or museums.
Disability, Media, and Literature (LITR 3340)
Faculty member: Emily Bloom, Seminar—Spring | 5 credits
This course examines representations of disability in literature and other media while also exploring how disability shapes the experience of readers and audiences. Course readings will include stories such as H. G. Wells’s The Country of the Blind, novels like Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, and poetry collections like Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic. We will also watch films such as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Crip Camp. In addition to these works, we will read a range of secondary texts about the history of audiobooks for the blind and dyslexic, sign-language poetics, and legislation for closed captioning, among other topics. We will look at particular artists and their work to consider how a deaf playwright approaches writing for the stage, how a blind memoirist describes her experiences in art museums, and how an actor with cerebral palsy experiences the physicality of his craft. Conference work will include community engagement with the Wartburg Adult Care Community. You will be asked to consider the access needs of seniors at Wartburg and work together to help make literature, music, and film more accessible to them.
Faculty member: Linwood J. Lewis, Seminar—Spring | 5 credits
Truly collaborative work between academic and nonacademic communities can be a serious challenge. This is not only an issue of method(ology) but also an issue of ethics. In this class, we will examine ontological and epistemological aspects of academic inquiry, advocacy, and activism and their relation to ethical community participatory work. How does our view of academic work affect our interactions with community members in creating and extending knowledge? How can we truly and intentionally collaborate with communities that exist within unequal power relationships with policy-making and policy-implementing bodies? What knowledge base is necessary for students and faculty to interact, with respect and intention, with communities that may be different in composition? I see this class as a bridge between the practical aspects of engagement in community participatory work and the necessary reflexive examination of worldview and practice by our academic community and partners. That reflexive examination is at multiple levels of analysis: the individual (e.g., students, faculty, staff, partner-agency staff), the organizational (e.g., SLC, partner organizations) and societal/cultural (e.g., examination of race/class/colonialism and postcolonial thought, ethics).
First-Year Studies: Nations, Borders, and Mobilities SOCI 1016
Faculty member: Parthiban Muniandy FYS—Year | 10 credits
In this FYS seminar, students will be introduced to the field of borders and migration studies based in the social sciences. We will start by reading some key sociological theories that provide students with an overview of sociology as a discipline and its relevance both within a liberal-arts education and to a wider social and political context. We will then focus on readings that provide students with foundational knowledge in border studies, globalization, the role of nations, nation-states, nationalism in society, and, finally, migration and displacement studies. The readings and discussions for the seminar adopt a “social problems” approach, looking at themes such as dimensions of inequality (race, class, and gender), labor, forced migration, and religious conflict through a transnational lens. As part of the seminar’s “practicum” dimension, students will learn the basics of initiating, designing, and carrying out sociological research using various methods of data analysis, including surveys, statistics, interviews, and field research. Throughout the year, students will have opportunities to engage in new and ongoing research projects related to the themes of nationalism, borders, and mobilities by engaging with cross-campus organizations and community partners in the City of Yonkers and wider Westchester County. During the second semester (spring 2025), students will be expected to engage in fieldwork, either independently or volunteering with community partners such as the Yonkers Public Library, Hudson River Museum, Wartburg, CURB, Center Lane, ArtsWestchester, or another organization.
Poetry Workshop: the Most Beautiful Sea WRIT 3506
Faculty member: Suzanne Gardinier – small seminar - Spring | 5 credits
This class combines Sarah Lawrence students and students from the Bedford Correctional Facility and takes place at Bedford one night a week. In order to participate, you must be 21 years old. Because of the extensive State paperwork, TB test, and fingerprinting involved, the roster for this class must be complete by mid-October 2024. And because Sarah Lawrence students constitute only half of this class, registration is limited to eight students.In this class, we’ll look together for, in the words of Nazim Hikmet, “The most beautiful sea” that “hasn’t been crossed yet” and “the most beautiful words I wanted to tell you/I haven’t said yet.” We’ll search as readers, via our class workbook text, The Most Beautiful Sea: Poems & Pathways Toward Poems, and as writers, using in-class exercises, weekly letters with a partner, and weekly drafts. You’ll be required to work as partners and to make a chapbook of at least 10 pages by the end of the course. The only prerequisites are: a desire to be challenged, a thirst for reading that equals your thirst for writing, the courage to give up spectatorhood for active participation, and a willingness to undertake whatever labors might be necessary to read and write better on our last day of class than on our first.